Archive for the ‘Parents at Work’ Category

Having a baby is a crazy time in anyone’s life. Whether it’s your first child and you don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into or your third and it’s all been-there-done-that, it’s surely going to be a crazy, hectic time. And yet, many of us manage to fit in some wild stuff in between labor pains. There are the usual things like not getting any medication to help with the pain (you put me in that much pain and I’d be breaking into the prison pharmacy if I had to) or eating a hearty meal only to throw it up shortly thereafter.

Calling the current system “Edwardian,” Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg wants to overhaul Britain’s rules governing maternity and paternity leave. Specifically, he wants to increase the amount of time men take off from work after their child is born. Currently, women are allowed up to a year of maternity leave; under the new rules, if they return to work before that time is up, the father would be able to use the remainder of the unpaid leave.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in the US, a federal holiday. That means that the kids don’t have school so, because I don’t have to get them up and out the door, I get an extra hour of sleep while still heading off to work at the usual time. But I worry about that. I worry that, for most people, that is the extent of the meaning of this day off — a holiday in honor of some dead guy that did something at some point in history. Is that enough, however, or do we, as parents, have a responsibility to our children to make it something more than that?

Whether you love or hate former Vice President Dick Cheney’s previous employer Halliburton, you would likely agree that a company that has profited so much from federal government contracts ought to, at the very least, follow federal law in return. According to one former employee, however, that is not the case. Lynda Darden, of Dallas Texas, was fired last year for having “violated the company’s policy against procreation.”

Okay, I’ll say it. Sometimes, pregnant women can be no fun to be around. I understand, mind you, why — their back hurts, their feet hurt, they feel nauseous, etc. They definitely have a right to be cranky/tired/short-tempered/etc. and we guys smile and take it because that’s our job — to be supportive and caring and positive to help you get through a difficult nine months. But what about the workplace? Should co-workers and bosses have to put up with a pregnant woman’s negative energy? What about her fetus’ negative energy?